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COMMENTARY
Jan 25, 2005

Medical reform needs help

In its first report on medical reform, the council to promote deregulation -- an advisory body to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi -- recently recommended lifting some restrictions on "mixed medical care," easing conditions for the private operation of hospitals and reorganizing the government's Central...
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2005

JR East to safeguard tracks against quakes

East Japan Railway Co. said Monday it will spend at least 50 billion yen to 60 billion yen during four years from fiscal 2005 on antiquake measures such as reinforcing elevated lines.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2005

Elpida cuts profit forecast due to weakening digital market

Elpida Memory Inc., a major maker of computer memory chips, said Monday it has nearly halved its net profit forecast for the year through March, blaming weak digital camera and DVD recorder sales.
COMMENTARY
Jan 25, 2005

Short shrift to a leader ousted by outlaws

HONG KONG -- The death of former Chinese Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang is a reminder of the tragedy that befell 15 years ago when the People's Liberation Army was called upon to shoot down unarmed demonstrators in Beijing, students as well as civilians. But it is also a reminder that China even today...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2005

Livedoor getting ready to launch Internet bank with regional lender

Livedoor Co., a provider of Internet and computer network-related services, said Monday it will team up with a bank in Yamaguchi Prefecture to launch an online bank this year.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2005

55% want SDF out of Iraq by March 15: poll

About 55 percent of respondents in a Kyodo News poll conducted Saturday and Sunday said the Self-Defense Forces should withdraw from Iraq by March, when Dutch troops engaged in security operations are scheduled to leave the country.
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2005

Ignoble moments after the tsunami

The tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people (according to the latest count) in southern Asia last month stirred what seemed like the whole gamut of emotions, from horror and pity through frustration to admiration and relief. At times, one felt a twinge of cynicism, as when some foreign governments...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2005

Koizumi's old faction now under funding scrutiny

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party faction to which Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi once belonged is suspected of failing to submit official reports on details of funds distributed to its member lawmakers, sources said Saturday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 23, 2005

"The Background of His Excellency President Bush" on TBS and more

TBS will present one of the stranger variety-show combinations of recent memory on Wednesday at 9 p.m. Tetsuya Chikushi is the respected veteran print journalist who helms the network's nightly news program. He'll be be co-hosting a program with the ubiquitous comedy duo Bakusho Mondai called "The Background...
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2005

Too soon to end U.S. military's aid effort

LOS ANGELES -- What seems truly noteworthy about the U.S. response to the tsunami disaster (especially as viewed here from the West Coast) is the dramatic duration of the caring. Even as the TV media have begun to lose interest (predictably), the general interest here seems not to be waning at all.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2005

Koizumi repeats postal reform line

Postal privatization -- Page 3 REIJI YOSHIDA Staff writer Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated his resolve Friday to split the nation's state-run postal services into four privatized companies -- a plan destined to put the prime minister and his own party on a collision course.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2005

Nakasone group unveils Constitutional amendment plan

An independent think tank led by former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone on Thursday unveiled its draft for revising the Constitution.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2005

Britain to protect GSDF when Dutch pull out of Iraq

British forces will provide security for the Ground Self-Defense Force troops in Samawah, southern Iraq, after the Dutch forces currently protecting them withdraw in March, visiting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2005

Sex offender list to be limited: NPA

The National Police Agency will only ask the Justice Ministry for information on sex offenders who have served prison time, NPA Commissioner General Iwao Uruma said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2005

Group retracts claim that photo shows abductees

A group investigating abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea has retracted its claim that two people shown in a photograph carried by a North Korean defector are two missing Japanese nationals.
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2005

Wage talks reflect big divide; bonus boost favored over raises

Japan's annual spring talks between unions and management on wages and working conditions started Thursday with no tension apparent but with the spreading pay gap between major and smaller companies expected to draw attention.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2005

Producer mistrusts NHK probe of censorship charge

A senior producer at NHK said Wednesday he does not trust the results of an in-house probe into allegations that the public broadcaster altered a documentary program about a mock trial on Japan's wartime sex slavery aired in 2001 due to political pressure.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2005

Response upgrade in works against intruding subs

In response to an intrusion by a Chinese submarine in November, Tokyo has drawn up guidelines to immediately launch a special maritime operation if a foreign sub is detected intruding in Japan's territorial waters, the government said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2005

Japan defies U.N., deports refugees

Acting with uncharacteristic speed, the Justice Ministry bundled a Kurdish father and his son, both U.N.-recognized refugees, onto a plane and sent them back to Turkey on Tuesday, a day after they visited the Immigration Bureau to extend their provisional release.
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2005

Publicizing sex offenders' details 'difficult problem'

might disturb privacy and the adaptation to society" of former sex offenders, Noono told a news conference, responding to calls that both the public and police should have such information. The ministry agreed Thursday to provide the National Police Agency with such information after former sex criminals...
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2005

Tsunami orphans face dangers: UNICEF

Tsunami orphans in the Indonesian province of Aceh now face dangers of human-trafficking and infectious diseases, the director of the UNICEF Office for Japan said Monday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 17, 2005

Unprecedented migration has EU on edge

MOSCOW -- Barbarian invasions from the east are old news for old Europe. Over the centuries, restless nomads kept rolling through the area -- sometimes to kill, sometimes to plunder, and sometimes to plunder and stay.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2005

Abe won't testify on NHK censorship

should explain before the Diet, and it is not true," Abe said. "(The opposition) would use (my) summoning as a witness to defer (Diet deliberations on) the budget." The Asahi Shimbun reported Wednesday that Abe and trade minister Shoichi Nakagawa learned of the contents of the NHK program before it was...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?